Welcome Craig, our newest brother-in-law. As I mentioned earlier, Rebecca's wedding took us to Utah this Christmas. What a trip. It was so much fun to see so many family members and friends. Too many people to see and the week just wasn't long enough. I wish we could have stayed even longer. I guess the 2 days we had to spend driving to and from Vegas made the actual time in Utah only 5 days. But I can't complain. We were going to drive the whole way until Dan, the master of deals, came across some awesome tickets at Allegiant Air for $29.00 one way. You get what you pay for, but it didn't seem to shabby of an airline to me. Guess they are trying to pull people into Vegas for gambling but it is a direct flight out of our little Rochester Airport. So nice that we didn't have to drive all the way up to the cities. All you MN folk ought to try them out if you are headed out West.
The wedding was so beautiful. It was so nice to have the whole family together with all 9 nieces and nephews. I was hoping Mikey would have more time to spend with his cousins but it didn't quite work out like I anticipated. He still had a ton of fun. The first night they
were all together the 4 oldest cousins came in and introduced themselves and then went away to play. We were getting setteled in, changing diapers and stuff and I didn't realize Mikey was still in the room with all the Aunts and Uncles. He's a bit shy and it always takes him a while to warm up to new people. A few minutes later Mikey kept asking me a question. I just couldn't figure out what he was asking for. I thought he was asking for some toy or something. Turns out he was asking me "Where are my cousins?" I realized I've never heard him say "cousins" before. So cute to meet everyone see their unique personalities.
Dan and I took a day to go skiing while we were out there too. So much fun. I am such a whimp these days though. Must be a combination of me getting older, having 2 kids to worry about, and having a baby 4 months ago. I just wasn't as daring as I was 4 years ago when I went with Dan (he took me sking the day he proposed). I felt like such a chicken this time and after going down 2 blue/intermediate runs with Dan I was beat. I was so glad Dan's friend and his wife came along so he could get in some "real" sking. I so ready to get back on the green slopes with my brother, sister and brother-in-law who were all sking for the first time. It ended up being a really fun day. I was so sore the next day though. I must have been gripping the poles all day because my whole body was so sore. Man, my years are catching up to me. Well, here's some proof of our adventures. 
Okay, so now I can finish telling you a bit more about our little trip to Louisiana. For Stacey's graduation party we went to a really cool Cajun restaurant called Boutin's which had a live band and great food. We had alligator for an appetizer and I had fried crawfish with all these cool sides- check out the picture of my meal below. Awesome! The music was a great hit for Michael. He just wanted to dance and dance. There was little older couple sitting a few tables away from us who saw Mikey and the woman came up and offered if she could take Mikey out on the dance floor. Of course he was too shy and wouldn't leave my shoulder to go to her for even a second. At least he waved at her and said goodbye when we were leaving.
We stayed at the restaurant for several hours- it was really a fun place to spend the evening. They even had a deck out back that overlooked the water and you could buy food for feeding the turtles and goldfish. If you check out the slide show I posted yesterday you can see a few pictures of that and more of all the dancing and fun we had.
Michael is quite the character these days. He's got all these new faces that he does when posing for the camera and does all these funny faces with his eyebrows lifting and eyes looking around. It's just too much fun. He had a lot of fun playing with Grandpa and Uncle Norman one evening- it was just a crackup to watch him laugh and laugh and put on a show for everyone. He's been asking for Grandma, Grandpa, Norman, Stacey, Rebecca, Heather, and Julie ever since we've gotten home. On the flight home he called the girl next to us Stacey and at church he pointed out everyone else to me as well (whoever he thought was a look-a-like). Today he found the little notebook we drew pictures in for Dan while we were in Texas and he wanted to go out in the backyard and draw another picture on the little table with Grandpa. I had to remind him that the table and everyone else is still in Texas and we are now in Minnesota.
The pictures below are of Mikey looking at the balloon floating up above him and "smiling for the camera" as he ate the graduation cake. He loves sweets. Oh, and his newest thing is gum. I just have to shake my head at this. What one year old do you know who asks for gum everyday?
Below are a few more shots of our little character around LSU campus. It really is a pretty campus by-the-way, and has some of the most beautiful, huge oak trees and gardens. Mikey enjoyed exploring everything and posing with Stacey for most of her pictures and his own (sorry Stacey if he was too much in the way). He also loved climbing up and down the stairs at the graduation ceremony with Grandpa before the ceremony began.
We finished off our little trip with a nighttime sightseeing view of the Baton Rouge Temple. It is right in this beautiful neighborhood on a nice plot of land. I was amazed at how beautiful Baton Rouge was with all the older colonial style plots of land (I guess that is what you would them). Big big trees and beautiful landscapes. Very different from where I have been living lately.
Well, congratulations Stacey! I am so proud of you. Way to be my first sibling to get a B.S. and not a B.A. or B.M. Geaux Tigers, as you would say. I am glad we were able to be there to help in all the celebrations and see your cute house. Feel free to visit us in Minnesota anytime. And that goes for all of you readers. We love visitors. And did you know that Rochester was rated among one of the top 100 best places to live in the US? Dan found that out on the news the other night. :)
It's been 2 and a half weeks since we got back from our little trip to Houston (Mikey and me that is) and it seems I've just been as busy as ever. I put together my first piano recital the week after we returned and now am preparing for the dance recital my little pre-ballet students will be performing in in two weeks. Michael has been learning to sleep in his toddler bed as well and it seems he's hasn't been going down until around 10pm these days. He seems almost ready to "ex" the afternoon naps. That may be the only way to get him down any earlier. After his 45 minute nap early this afternoon, he finally fell asleep a few minutes ago; around 9:30pm. He thinks of everything these days not to go to bed and will beg and beg for it through his tears. Poor guy. His favorites include, "movie, ice cream, mommy/daddy bed, daddy, downstairs, and couch."
So, Houston was a blast. Just a chance to get away for a while, let the grandparents enjoy Michael, and meet up with my dear friend Heather who flew out from San Diego to chill with us as well. We happened to be traveling out there right when my sister, Stacey, was graduating with her BS from LSU (Louisiana State University) so we tacked on a few days and drove out to Baton Rouge as well. Michael loved the backyard playground and asked to outside non-stop. It would have been fine other than the fact that even at 7pm it was still 80 degrees out. :) Gotta love the weather down there. It did cool down a bit some nights so it was bearable.
My mom got us a deal on a condo along the beach front and we stayed there for a few nights. The condo was recently redone and really nice wit great air conditioner. The view was beautiful as well. Michael woke up every morning and went out on the balcony to see the beach and pool.
He loved the water and couldn't get enough of the beach. We played there the first day we got there and then again another day. Here are a bunch of photos of him playing.
He loved taking the sand and rubbing int on his tummy and lying in the water. Of course the sand toys were a hit as well.
Here we are the second day at the beach- upgraded to a suit that had a flotation top built in (that was removable), so we could take him out in the water. After getting a mouthful of the salt water, he preferred to stay near the shore.
Swimming at the pool was another story. He was so excited to get in, but didn't like it when we saw us "disappear" under the water. I think he thought we were drowning or something because he was scared. We finally had to gently force him into the floaty thing and then he finally cheered up. I've taken him to the swimming pool once before, but that was last summer and I don't think he remembers. If it finally ever warms up here, I'm planning on taking him to our local pool. So far it's been overcast and rainy and just too cold for the pool still. I don't even think the pools are open yet this season. That's crazy considering it's already June.
For the sake of uploading more pictures and saving myself from having to drag them around the screen, I will continue this post in the next post.
Here's to our Louisiana trip. We left at like 9:30 at night to arrive at approximately 2am at Stacey and Norman's (my sister and brother-in-law) house. Not sure why we ended up leaving so late...there were flash floods in LA and we weren't sure which car to drive, my mom was teaching piano lessons until late that night, and that's about when we were all packed and ready. We decided we'd rather drive at night than wake up early in the morning. Michael had a rough time sleeping and cried for a good portion of the trip. When I started showing him some old pictures on my phone of he and Dan at the park a while back he calmed down for a bit. I think he's used to me sitting in the front seat and not in the back with him. But he didn't do much better when I drove the last 2 hrs. Well, at least he feel asleep for a good while of the drive.
Louisiana was super humid. Because of all the rain it made it completely wet, wet, wet with super moisture. That took some getting used to. Graduation was great and Michael actually did pretty well through all the ceremonies. Well, that'll have to be all for now. I just heard Michael waking up upstairs and then a big thud. Checked on him and he slipped on the last step on some piano books I had stacked there. Now he's sitting here in my arms and it's a little after midnight. Off to bed for all of us. I'll go ahead and attach the web album slide show I have ready and call it good for now.
